roblatus

Can anyone recommend any software to convert AVI files to burn to a standard DVD format on my Mac.

I have used Toast a couple of times but not impressed with the results.

I was hoping there would be some freeware/shareware stuff that could do the trick.


Cheers

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1998 Mazda Roadster 1.8 RS Spec. spending a lot of time sideways

Mort

I've not found an 'easy' way. I use Toast if I have to, or ffmpegx for best results.

Virtual Hub is the best thing I've found so far: VisualHub: The Universal Video Converter for Mac.

Not played with it too much, but the last time I used it to convert to DVD it went surprisingly smoothly.

__________________
Fabia v/RS, in Red.
Green filter & Cupra Intake, TT brakes, Josh's Sumpguard, Jabba ARB, MOMO strut brace, Powdercoated alloys. KW v1's next...

roblatus

Cheers for that

I am downloading visualhub as i type this. Will give it a try later.

Thanks again.

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1998 Mazda Roadster 1.8 RS Spec. spending a lot of time sideways

The Ors

Possibly I'm missing something here but can you not just import the .AVI into iMovie & then 'Share' to iDVD to burn your disk?

I just tried this with an .AVI from my digi camera & it seems to work (I didn't actually try to burn a disk though!)

roblatus

When i open iMovie i have three options:- create new project, open existing project and make a magic movie.

Which one of these do i use?

I have got iMovieHD if it makes any difference????

I have used visualhub as suggested by a previous poster and it seems ok but the resulting dvd has sort of jagged edges to the images on the screen when played back, the same thing happens if i use toast. It is this that i was hoping to erradicate.

__________________
1998 Mazda Roadster 1.8 RS Spec. spending a lot of time sideways

The Ors

Open iMovie & create a new project. Go to: File -> Import & select the .AVI file you want to import. Edit video as necessary then Go to: Share -> iDVD.

iDVD will open. Add any titles etc then Go to: File -> Burn DVD

I use iMovie HD 6.0.3

I haven't actually burned a DVD to try it so I don't know whether it will solve your jagged edges problem.

HTH

roblatus

I have followed your instructions but when i import a movie that is 1.5 hrs long iMovie says it will take 70 minutes to import it. Is that right?


Visual hub takes about 30 minutes to encode the avi to an iso then toast takes about 4 minutes to burn it.

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1998 Mazda Roadster 1.8 RS Spec. spending a lot of time sideways

Mort

What's the resolution on your AVI file? It may just not be the right size for a PAL DVD? Have you tried any other AVI files to see if they do the same?

__________________
Fabia v/RS, in Red.
Green filter & Cupra Intake, TT brakes, Josh's Sumpguard, Jabba ARB, MOMO strut brace, Powdercoated alloys. KW v1's next...

roblatus

I don't know the resoloution of the file but using visualhub i check a box for PAL and it still only takes 30 minutes.

Will have another go with iMovie though.

__________________
1998 Mazda Roadster 1.8 RS Spec. spending a lot of time sideways

Mort

Open the AVI in QuickTime Player and go to Window->Show Movie Inspector it'll give you a 'normal size' in pixels. If this is below the standard PAL size then the converter will need to upscale the movie to make it DVD spec and that will be what's giving you jagged edges - so it will happen on any converter/burner you use no matter what.

iMovie converts imported media to use as a working file and then converts at export as well, so it's not really suited for changing AVI's to DVD and will be rather slow compared to specific converters such as ffmpeg and Visual Hub (usually uses ffmpeg too)

__________________
Fabia v/RS, in Red.
Green filter & Cupra Intake, TT brakes, Josh's Sumpguard, Jabba ARB, MOMO strut brace, Powdercoated alloys. KW v1's next...

The Ors

I only tried a very small file. From what Mort is saying, iMovie may not be the best solution then.

What is DVD? is quite a useful site.

roblatus

I was wondering myself about the reason for the jagged edges. It has been a while since i converted video and i have only done it a few times on my iMac.

Thanks for all the help and advice though. I think i will stick to using visual hub as it has given the best performance/quality so far.

Thanks again.

__________________
1998 Mazda Roadster 1.8 RS Spec. spending a lot of time sideways